🟪 #86: Handheld prices rising, a 32-year streak ends, and Valve’s possible console

Hi, hello, welcome to a new edition of the overkill digest newsletter, your go-to source for everything handheld Gaming, and whatever else is currently happening in the world of video games!

I started Kingdom Come: Deliverance II yesterday. I never played the first one, but Timo, who reviewed it on Steam Deck, kept hyping it up.

Unfortunately, I ran into a game-breaking bug that kills the immersion for me. The game has two types of cutscenes, pre-rendered ones and in-game ones where you interact by selecting answers. And it’s the latter that’s bugged.

Audio keeps messing up in nearly all of these cut-scenes: I’ll pick an answer, and my interlocutor just stands there in silence for 10 seconds before responding. Sometimes, the reply is so delayed that it overlaps with the next scene’s audio. Other times, the dialogue is just completely out of sync.

I’ve tried everything. I tweaked settings (I changed the game from ultra to low, despite running it on an AMD 5700X3D and a RTX 4090), looked for mods (but I found none), reinstalled the game, but no luck.

If you know a fix (maybe a config tweak?), hit reply. I really want to play this, but with how dialogue-heavy it is, this bug makes it unplayable.

And with that, let's get into this (slow) week's news.

🗞️ This Week in Handhelds

🚀 Big Handheld Moves

• Handheld Gaming might become more expensive. Due to Trump’s new tariffs, the prices of imported goods to the US might increase by up to 35%, as the de minimis rule (which allowed small packages under $800 to bypass duties) was suspended. This change has caused widespread disruption in logistics, forcing companies like AYN to temporarily halt US shipments while awaiting clarity. The initial implementation of the policy led to significant delays, with packages piling up at JFK Airport and retailers like Shein and Temu scrambling to adjust. After just a few days of chaos, the US administration paused the repeal to allow time for adjustments, but the long-term plan remains unchanged. This means higher costs and longer shipping times are likely coming for U.S based handheld gamers importing devices from China. If de minimis is permanently removed, expect handhelds from brands like Anbernic and Miyoo to see price hikes in the US market.
• The Nintendo Switch sold over 150 million units. Nintendo needs to sell another 10 million more units to break the record and sell more units than Sony sold PlayStation 2's. But with the Switch 2 right around the corner, they might not break this milestone. Then again, if they continue selling the Switch 1 as the cheaper sibling to the Switch 2, they might make it. But all in all, that is a LOT of Switches out there. The PC handheld industry doesn't even come close to these numbers.

🎮 Platform Updates

• The PlayStation Network was down these last few hours. For over 24 hours in fact — from Friday to Saturday, making it impossible to access the Store or even play online-games on any of Sony's platforms. The issues have been fixed meanwhile, and all PlayStation Plus members will receive an additional 5 days of service. At least this time, it didn't seem to be because of a hack.

💻 Hardware Corner

• Valve might work on a console on par with the PS5... but. This rumor made the rounds this week, but Liam from GamingOnLinux put a stop to it quite quickly. While it is true, that Valve has been working on Mesa drivers, they have been doing so for years, so this isn't necessarily a change related to new hardware. It might be that, of course, but it also could just be business as usual. But one thing is clear. Seeing that so many people were excited by this news, Valve clearly has a chance to satisfy A LOT of customers by releasing a Steam Console.

🎲 Gaming News

• Valve is now warning players if an early access game has been abandoned. Good update from Valve. I can't say how many games get abandoned by their devs, but seeing that Valve felt it necessary to add such a disclaimer, the number might not be as low as we’d think.
• Development on the next Nexus Mods app is progressing. It wouldn't be an overkill digest without some mention of modding. Nexus Mods, the website that hosts all kinds of mods for games like Skyrim, Stardew Valley, Cyberpunk 2077, and more, has been working on a new app, that will be compatible with Linux. We’re still in the early stages of development, but once this thing is done, I’ll have one less reason to keep running Windows as my gaming platform.
• Civilization 7 is getting a VR version soon. It's exclusive to the Meta Quest 3 and 3S (cries in PSVR2 on PC), and comes in Spring later this year. I'm not the biggest fan of the Civ-series (I truly can't get used to its turn-based mode), but this looks super fun. Modders, please get this to run with SteamVR, thank you very much!!!
• Football Manager 25 is cancelled. After 32 years, (the game first came out in 1992; I was born in 1991!) Sports Interactive decided to not release a new entry in this long-running series. FM25 was supposed to be this huge overhaul of the game, but it looks like the developer didn't manage to get the game to a stable version. They had to delay the release twice already, and in the end decided to cancel it altogether, and instead focus on FM26 coming later this year (normally). I have some more thoughts on this down below.

📌 Quick Hits

• Gaming in the age of short form content. We ran this editorial by Kieran McClung on overkill this week. It's a fascinating problem. Short-form content is rewiring our attention spans, and it’s seeping into how we play games. So Kieran asks: are we giving them the time they deserve?
• Don't call it E3, but iicon is a new event by ESA. After killing E3 in 2023, ESA announced a new event for April 2026, called iicon. It's not really a true successor to E3, but rather a Vegas-based summit focused on industry networking, keynotes, and cross-sector collaboration. It's pulling in not just gaming but also film, TV, music, sports, and more. Unlike E3’s public showcase, iicon aims to be a high-level industry event, more akin to GDC, than to, say, gamescom.

Dig the new format? Hate it? Hit those feedback buttons below and let me know what's working.

🔒 Premium Deep Dive: Rushed, repetitive, and unsustainable. The problem with yearly game releases.

When Football Manager 25 got canceled, it felt like the inevitable consequence of a system that’s been broken for years. Sports Interactive delayed the game twice, then scrapped it entirely, and now they’re moving on to FM26. But what does that say about the industry? Well, yearly game releases are a problem.